According to a report from 247Sports, Tennessee quarterbacks coach Mike Canales spoke to the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday. And he had some positive words to say about one of the Vols’ quarterbacks.
Jarrett Guarantano has had minimal opportunity in games to show what he can do as Tennessee’s quarterback. In three appearances, Guarantano has completed just 12 of his 24 pass attempts for 54 yards and a touchdown. He also has six rushing yards on 10 attempts (counting sacks). But Canales says he’s encouraged by what he’s seeing from Guarantano in practice.
“He seems to get more and more reps each and every week, so we can bring him along and he can keep coming,” Canales said of Guarantano at the Quarterback Club. “He’s shown vast improvement. I see it every day with him. I see the time that he’s putting in. So there are positive things to come.”
During the Vols’ 41-0 loss to Georgia, Guarantano was put in late in the third quarter after Quinten Dormady struggled through the worst performance of his career thus far at Tennessee. Dormady completed just five of his 16 pass attempts for 64 yards and two interceptions prior to removal.
When Guarantano was inserted into the game, Tennessee’s coaching staff left several of the Vols’ starters in the game with him.
“We wanted to leave our starters in and give Jarrett a chance to compete with the first team and really see what he would do,” Canales said of that decision.
Guarantano would go on to complete six of his seven passes for 16 yards. While the stats were far from overwhelming, Guarantano showed more poise and confidence in that appearance than he had in two previous appearances. But he still couldn’t help lead the Vols to a touchdown, and they lost 41-0 to No. 7 Georgia.
Head coach Butch Jones said after the game that every starting position will be up for grabs in the two weeks leading up to the South Carolina game on October 14th. That includes the quarterback position that has already been mired in a battle since the spring of this year.
“We have to find a way to win,” Canales stated. “We have seven games left and we’re excited. I was excited to come to work this morning. I know the quarterbacks will come ready to work.
“We have seven games, and I know Jarrett will do a good job and Quinten will do a good job getting ready to play against South Carolina.”
After the bye week, the Vols play host to South Carolina, travel to Alabama and Kentucky, host Southern Miss, travel to Missouri, and close out the season with back-to-back home games against LSU and Vanderbilt.
